Restoration Ministry's official: Heat, water supply facilities 80% provided with backup power sources
Heat and water supply enterprises in Ukraine are almost 80% provided with backup power sources in case of shutdowns of the general power grid, but these needs should be fully covered by winter, Director of the Life Support Systems Department of the Ministry for Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine Vitaliy Surai has said.
This was discussed during the roundtable talks "Transformation of municipal heat supply enterprises into energy companies: What is changing and how to act" at Interfax-Ukraine, organized by the Association of Critical Infrastructure Operators and the Association of Ukrainian Cities.
"Heat and water supply enterprises are almost 80% provided with reserves. But this is an issue that needs to be resolved, and it is included in communities’ Resilience Plans. I think it is during preparations for winter that the issue of backup sources, such as generators and diesel power plants, will be covered," Surai said.
He added that, in particular, Ukraine had received very substantial donor support for generators.
During his speech, Surai said the issues of replacing and backing up heat energy sources in cities are extremely important in order to avoid a situation like the one that occurred this winter, in particular in the capital, where a large number of residents were left without heating for a long time due to Russian strikes. At the same time, according to him, it is very difficult to carry out such work within several months before winter in order "to have absolutely 100% backed-up capacity for the next season."
He said that relevant measures and a list of facilities where additional heat energy capacity will be built had already been verified by the ministries.
"Last Wednesday, the government allocated UAH 3 billion in advance for the purchase of additional heat generation sources that will be built in communities in order to have a reserve in case centralized facilities are destroyed," Surai said.
